Tag Archives: spill reporting

In this post, we review several keys things you need to do right after you have a chemical accident.

The first priority is human lives. Make sure your employees are alright and their health and safety are secure. If the spill involves ignitable chemicals, make sure all ignition sources are turned off.

Contain the chemical spill or accident.

Estimate the amount of spill and determine the Federal Reportable Quantity (RQ) of the chemical that has been spill. The RQ can be found in the List of Lists. This is where preparation comes in handy. If you had reviewed your chemical inventory and determined the appropriate RQ before the spill occurred, you would be in a much better shape.

Report all spill amounts that exceed the RQ to the National Response Center at 1-800- 424-8802 as soon as possible.

Check to see if there are any spill reporting requirements mandated by your state agency. Many state agencies require you to report spills that are much below the federal RQ. A list of state reporting requirements can be found here.

If your spill or chemical release has affected your neighbors in your community, now is the time to be forthright and let your community know what has happened. Do NOT try to stonewall or hide the spills. Your neighbors already know about your spill. So why hide it. Can you imagine how much worse publicity BP would have gotten if it had denied there was an oil spill in the Gulf? They just need to hear from YOU the extent and scope of your accident. Be upfront about it. Don’t try to spin it though some public relations agents. Don’t deny it. If you try to hide it or spin it now, it will only make you look very bad when the truth comes out. And the truth will come out.

Tell your community the steps you are taking to mitigate the spills and any further steps you plan to take to prevent it from happening again. Your neighbors need to know that you are on top of the situation. They need to hear from you directly. Not from some PR spokesman.

Keep your community up-to-date on the mitigation measures you are taking.

Many people are under the misconception that if you are open to the public after the spills, it will invite law suits. That’s not true. If you are going to be sued, you are going to be sued whether you are upfront or not. Being evasive and untruthful will only hurt your credibility and your standing in the community.

Note: The topics of Emergency planning and Community Right to Know are covered in our 2-day environmental compliance seminars. Over 2000 environmental professionals have attended our seminars.

It goes without saying that the first thing you need to do when you have a spill is to stop the spill and ensure the safety of your employees and the community. After you have done that, there are three things you should keep in mind:

The first thing is to determine your Federal Reportable Quantities. Determine the amount of chemical you have spilled and check to see if it has exceeded EPA’s federal reportable quantity (RQ). You can do that easily by looking up the RQ in EPA’s List of Lists. Remember that the RQ of a chemical always refers to its pure form in a mixture or compound. For example, if you spill a mixture that contains 50% of X and the RQ for X is 400 lbs, you will have to have spilled more than 800 lbs of the mixture for you to exceed the RQ.You must report any spilled amount over the RQ to the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.

The second thing to remember is to check your state’s own reporting requirements. Many states have their own spill reporting requirements in addition to the Federal reporting requirement. States such as New Jersey, California, New York and Iowa(just to name a few) require reporting of all spills regardless of quantities. For example, in Californiayou must report any amount of chemical spill to the California Office of Emergency Response unless you can show that “there is a reasonable belief that there is no significant present or potential hazard to human health, the environment or property.” The onus is on you to determine if the spill was “significant” or not.

We have prepared a summary chart showing the various spill reporting requirements in all 50 states. Use it as a guide. Check out the state’s website for more details.

The third thing to remember is this. If you are not sure if you should report a spill, report it.